2012 Six Gap Century

It's a terrible thing to loose fitness and your brain not know it until it's too late. The past few months I've had to back off on my normal insane amounts of training. I've noticed that instead of dictating the pace on rides I've been more content to just sit in. But that's all that has changed since I last raced my bike. Well this Sunday I put power to the pedals for 104 miles in the mountains of North Georgia and learned what my body is currently capable of doing. It was good. But not to the level that my brain thought we were still at. A fact that became painfully obvious after 50 miles of riding at a top end pace.

Some people I know have a way of convincing themselves that reality isn't the truth. They say things like, "Awe that'll never happen" or "It'll all turn out OK". Point of fact they are lazy. They deal with things after it happens to them. I can't be that way. I'm too hyper focused. I need a plan. I need to understand the obstacles before me and eliminate the problems before they hurt me or the ones I love. I hate the idea of being reactive instead of proactive.
But I understand that God made us all different. I don't judge others. Just don't expect many sympathies from yours truly when stuff happens to you that you could have prevented. I don't mean when you make a bad decision. Heck I make plenty. You have to try things sometimes. Some folks never let ignorance stand in the way of making a bad decision though or just cross their fingers and hope nothing bad happens? But me...Negative.

However, I allowed myself to think I could press on through an event like Six Gap with the same ease and happiness that I did last year without doing all the work and preparations I normally do. I focused on other things and suffered the consequences. I knew the date was coming, I just treated it with costly disregard. And boy did I pay for it.

The first 50 miles were the usual blissfully strong riding I'm accustomed to. My friends Benny Bohanon, David Shabat, and Craig Tinsley were there. Craig had been riding like crazy the past few months. Two weeks earlier he rode the Bridge to Bridge ride in North Carolina. The day before this he competed in a 6 Hr mountain bike race at Jack Rabbit Trail. So I felt the need to shepperd my friend if he was going to "do the double". As you'll read below it turns out he didn't need the help. But I channeled my inner Christian Vande Velde and paced my leader (Ryder) up the climbs. At least that's where I derived my enthusiasm.


By the time we reached Hog Pen I could feel the error of my ways. Despite eating and drinking everything I needed to, I could feel the power slipping away from my legs. It was too far, it was too much, it was too bad because I had no way out accept to climb three more mountains. I went into damage control mode. I ate electrolytes like candy. I even tried some fruit dates from Craigs zip lock bag. And like any good endurance athlete I worked on some positive phrases in my head. "You are powerful!" "You are strong!" Things like that.

Robert Loomis in the lead group on Unicoi

My problem wasn't the dreaded bonk. It was a combination of dehydration and plain old lack of training. I hadn't been drinking water all week. The cramps started to hit me on the Wolf Pen climb. I nursed them in the back of my legs, the back of my arms, and of all places in the center of my left foot. The toe beside my pinkie toe was missing in action for the entire climb. And the thing is I never really panicked. I felt like crap but it was nothing I hadn't felt before. I had a long way to go but I knew I could get there. It dawned on me while I made my way up the climb that this feeling of quasi confidence can only be learned through experiences. Bad experiences. And when I make things really easy for my kids and never let them fail, I rob them of this kind of confidence. So I added this to my damage control phrases and pushed to the top of the climb; "This will make you stronger!"

When I rounded the last turn on Wolf Pen I could hear my good friend David at the top yelling words of encouragement. David was fighting his own demons which he skillfully details in the story below I stole from his Facebook page. It's dedicated to his Endurance Athlete friends. He too has placed himself in demanding situations and understood my pain.

Anyway, I pushed on through the ride knowing that I would finish. I needed to look back and say I did my best because it sucks to think you could have done more. There are details I could share but they've been covered in the stories from my friends I've posted below. Bottom line: I had fun and felt successful. Thanks guys!

2012 Six Gap Century

Story by David Shabat

How many times have you heard from at least one person you know:  "Why do you do that stupid stuff?  You run or bike all the time.  You're always working out.  You're hardly any fun to be around anymore."  I haven't heard it in a while, since I've surrounded myself with people who have come to appreciate why I do what I do, and a lot of folks who are right there with me.  Yesterday, I was saying those words to myself. As I was ascending Hogpen Gap, the most brutal climb on the Six Gap route, I just blurted out "I am having a serious case of "I don't give a crap!".  Yes, there I was, 60 miles into the 104 mile century, just out of my mental game.  I've done the climb several times.  I've run it as well as biked it.  My brain wanted to melt down.  How many times do you have to climb Hogpen before you stop caring about getting to the top of Hogpen? How many times? You never stop caring.  You watch your buddies suffering with you.  You turn the cranks or put one foot in front of the other and you remember who you are.  You are the one who gets things done.  You may be different, but you are the "white sheep" of the family.  You know that the pain is temporary.  You know that the climb will end and you'll never forgive yourself if you give up for any reason other than physical.  You keep turning the cranks.
*   *   *

I was up at 4:15.  Coffee was brewing and I was loading the truck by 4:25.  It was a perfect day for a bike ride - with arm warmers.  Lenka and I drove to pick up our friend, Ann, and drove to Dahlonega... there around 6:15.  The parking lot was already full.  Amazingly, Chad and I parked just a few cars away from each other, so we could talk shop early and get the day going.  We prepped and were on the line in plenty of time to be near the start line, but not at the line, since this year, they corralled us into "sub 6 hour expected finish" and "more than 6 hour expected finish".  We planned to finish in around 7 hours, clock time, including stops/breaks (mind you that means off the "race/ride clock", not our bike computers, which measure ride time).  Chad, our buddy Benny, and I were lined up together.  Six Gap starts are kind of home town, since it's not a race, per se, but it's just fairly laid back if you're not in the "sub6" group.  So, we got off to a good start and picked up our ringer for the day, Craig.

We kept a nice, relaxed pace for what I'll call the prologue. Chad led our pack and was our team leader for the day.  He called the shots, set the pace, and was the overall motivator to keep us going all day long.  I had to stop and use the restroom at an unexpected point on the way... the corner before we begin the ascent up Blood Mountain to Neels Gap - first ascent of the day.  But, you can't climb well if you can't use your ab muscles without having an accident.  Craig, Chad, and I kept a tight pack up to Neels.  Benny caught us in no time at the top, and we headed out to Jack's Gap.  Again, we held a tight 3-man formation, but the climbs weren't so easy for me; at least they didn't feel as easy as they did last year.  Benny caught us on Jacks, and I took a turn to pull, though it was was mostly downhill, to the base of the climb to Unicoi.  I had a few "challenges" from other riders, who were "inertially enhanced", but for the most part, we kept a great downhill pace in the high 20s and low 30s.  The climb up Unicoi was a struggle, but we enjoyed it, like we always enjoy Unicoi.  When we reached the gap, we recovered, but Benny told us to go on, that he'd take things at his own pace... which was really not much different from ours, but just slightly out-of-sync enough to make him choose to send us on our way.  Chad had 3 rules: 1) Have FUN 2) Try to break 7 hours clock time 3) Don't let rule #2 get in the way of rule #1.  We may have a chance to break 7 hours on the clock if we pull the now smaller pack into order.

As expected, we flew down Unicoi.  Chad was on fire.  He has such grace on the bike, I had to keep my head straight because I knew I couldn't keep up with him AND maintain safe control of my bike.  I also still felt skittish about my crash a few weeks ago.  I had a post-Goose/ Maverick feeling when I hit hard downhill curves.  But, I still kept Chad within my sights.

HOGPEN
What can you say about Hogpen?  At least it's not Brasstown?  Be thankful you have the ability to climb?


As we began the primary ascent, I had a mental meltdown.  I didn't care about Hogpen anymore.  I have climbed it on foot and on bike.  I think I had more fun on foot.  But, today, we're on bikes.  This is where Craig's year of training and racing has really paid off.  After the primary ascent, I got my head right.  I had no choice.  For the past 5 years, I have been the guy who does stuff outside his comfort zone on purpose.  I was not going to let a bout of the "I don't give a craps" get me.  So, I downshifted to my 28 cog and just spun my way up with Chad... while Craig pulled away until he had at least 30 seconds on us.  We kept sort of quiet.  Nobody wants to huff and puff because it does you no good.  No one would dare complain... we're salty veterans on this climb.  So, we just kept turning the cranks until we got to the top and were greeted with cheers and some of the best food on the ride. But then I got that sinking feeling about the descent.  Last year I hit 67 mph on the back side of Hogpen.  This year, I held a VERY conservative pace and got it to around 50 mph and held steady.  The curves were not nearly as in-my-face as last year.  There was no snap decision on when/how to execute a curve.  I saw everything coming and had plenty of reaction time.  My stomach settled just in time to turn the corner and realize...I was completely out of gas. We still had to climb Wolfpen Gap, which is the "Winding Stair" of road riding in Georgia.

Again, Craig was looking great, and he took a pace that was comfortably faster than me and Chad. Chad had his nose to the wind for us 95% of the time.  He gave the rest of us the option to take it easy while he pushed a great pace on the flats and rollers.  We were both on the suffer train.  But, Chad had an extra joy... a full-size (39/53) racing crankset, while I had a compact (36/50) crankset.  Those three teeth in the front make a HUGE difference when climbing.  But, Chad, just kept turning those cranks.  I know he was suffering right there with me, with an even more difficult climb on the bigger crank.  My hat is off to Chad.  Wolfpen was our toughest climb of the day. Chad led us out from Wolfpen to our final major ascent, Woody's. We had to take it a little easier.  Although we ate well and hydrated well, we were just wiped out compared to Craig, who was still as froggy as a SEAL on his first mission.  We cranked it up Woody's without a wasted moment.  By then, my wits were gone, I started blaming the bike for not shifting right, I had not completely bonked, but I was on my way.

Then an angel appeared before me.

I went to the refreshment area and said "I have an odd request.  There was this angel who saved my skin last year with an ice cold Coke Zero.  Is she here this year?"  They pointed me to the lady in her blue jacket... she waved her hands at me "What else have you got?  OK, I'm an angel, I've heard that before".  So I showered this lady with every compliment I could muster from my oatmeal brain.  I think that when I started getting incoherent, even to myself, she went to her truck, and pulled out a Coke Zero from her PERSONAL COOLER and gave it to me.  I offered her cash.  She would only accept my gratitude.  Finally, after a few minutes of chugging the coke, the caffeine kicked in and I started feeling like a person again.We pushed our way down Woody's, again with our captain, Chad in command of all the turns... which made it easy for us, since we could follow his line.  We caught up with a young lady who was also flying down the mountain. But, we got stuck behind some cars who were waiting on other cyclists who didn't have our "sense of adventure".  On one hard curve, there was a cyclist down.  He lost it in the curve, a left hand curve with a cliff.... JUST LIKE MY CURVE.  My stomach was a little sick looking at him at the side of the road.  He wasn't going to be riding home like I did.  I felt such a mix of luck and sadness and gratitude in my heart.  We held pace until the traffic fixed itself and we went back to our high 30s pace down the mountain.  There was another crash on the road into the "offshoot development" turn we had to make.  So, we had one last moment of excitement before the "worst part of the ride".

The last 10 or so miles of the ride is the kick in the teeth.  We had constant high-pitch rollers the whole way.  We had a few miles of open road, but even that was on an uphill grade.  Otherwise, we were either downshifting or upshifting.  Then we finally got onto Black Mountain Road, and received our last kick in the teeth of the day.  We passed the 7 hour clock time and tried to just shrug it off.  We had done more than 100 miles within 7 hours on the clock.  No one got hurt.  We shared our suffering.  And I got another day of cycling with my brother Chad.  So, we eased the pace and cruised in to a 7:04 finish.  We changed out of our very used up gear, and went into Lumpkin County High for what is always one of the best meals of the year.

I was extra thankful that Lenka and Ann drove with me, so Lenka could drive us home.  I fell asleep in the back seat of the truck, before we even pulled out of the parking lot, and didn't wake up until we dropped Ann off in Toccoa.  I am truly grateful for my friends, for the ability to ride, and for the underlying mental persistence that refuses to fail me, even when I wish it would.

David

2012 Six Gap Century

Benny Bohannon

The bike ride today was a lot of fun, but I sure am tired! It's called the 6 Gap Century, and takes place in the mountains near Dahlonega.
I started out this AM meeting up with 3 of the guys from Habersham Cycles. Chad Hayes, David Shabat, and Craig Tinsley. Those are some of the guys I ride with on Tuesday Nights. I do good on Tuesday nights just to stay in sight of the lead group. We even had on our matching jerseys. 

Their goal was to finish the 104 mile ride in less than 7 hours.... I told them I knew I couldn't do that, but they insisted I could, and that we would all hang together and "Have Fun". So we hung together. We left the start at the school at 7:30 this morning. We got there at 6 AM, so we could line up at the front and get a good start. There were almost 2800 riders lined up behind us! When they opened the gate, we lit out flying, like the Tour de France! We were the fastest of the fast, right up there in the front.

Occasionally I would catch a glimpse behind me, as all the other riders crowded the road, their shoulders undulating as they moved in one big mass, like a river of multi-colored jerseys. Pretty cool stuff. We probably averaged over 26 mph for the first 18 miles before the first Mountain, Neel's Gap. I knew I couldn't keep up that pace for very long, so I let them lead up the first mountain. After a while, I dropped into my own pace, and they slipped away. They got to the top about 5 minutes before me, but were all waiting on me, and said it was no problem. We all rode together again until the next mountain (Jack's Gap), where they waited about 7 minutes for me. I knew they wanted to finish in under 7 hours, but they kept saying to stay with them anyway. On the way up the 3rd Mountain, Unicoi Gap, I started cramping. My muscles were letting me know I was going way beyond my abilities. When I got to the top, I told them in no uncertain terms to go on, and finish, and that I would have to ride at my own pace to finish the 104 miles. So we all did the fist-bump, and they went on. I didn't see them again until the end. I enjoyed the rest of the ride, talking to people, suffering up the climbs, and flying down the mountains. The other mountains include Hogpen Gap, Wolfpen Gap, and Woody's Gap. Hogpen is the granddaddy, with over 8 miles at up to a 16% grade. Whew!  

I finished in 7:35, which was about 45 minutes faster than last year. I guess the fast start really made up some time. The other guys came in at 7:05, which really wasn't too bad either. I saw some of the guys from Apalachee Cyles in Dacula, the other group I ride with. A couple of them finished in 6:34-6:39 ! That's an hour faster than me! Wow.
Others finished after I did, so that was fine too. Everyone was just happy to make it in. It was a lot more fun after it was over, that's for sure.
They fed us a big spaghetti supper afterwards, so now I am full, sore, and sleepy. And I also got a cool "T" shirt out of the deal.

Benny
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Thanks guys for taking time to write it down! I look forward to seeing you at all the rides coming up for the rest of 2012. Check them out at the top of the page.

And now here's some crazy facts about the Six Gap Century:

• There were 2,595 cyclists that participated in the Six Gap Century & Three Gap Fifty Bike Ride this year! 
• An estimated 4,000 man hours went into the planning and execution of the Ride by Chamber staff and over 350 volunteers.
• Almost 3,000 gallons of water and Heed/Gatorade were used at the 9 rest stops.
• Over the course of the Ride, cyclists consumed 1,200 lbs of bananas, 300 lbs of apples, 250 lbs of grapes, and 200 lbs of oranges.
• Our rest stop volunteers made an estimated 8,500 PB&J sandwiches. 
• The Lumpkin County High School cafeteria staff fed our riders over 2,600 lbs of spaghetti

Fall Charity Rides in North Georgia

Tour de Tugaloo, Molly loved the brownies.

I feel like singing when the weather turns "brisk" in the Fall. When there's a chill in the air in the morning and it warms to the perfect 73 degree temperature. The song in my head at this moment? "It's the most wonderful time of the year!" Yeah it's a Christmas song and we're not there yet but it's in there so I'm singing it. If you search my blogs of the past you'll find more extensive reviews of Georgia Charity rides but here's a look into the future.

Fall in Georgia means Charity Rides! The weather is perfect for riding. The leaves start turning. Road racing season is over so guys aren't trying to rip your legs off on a ride. (Unless your hopelessly addicted to Strava) Charity rides can be a one time event to raise money for a worthy cause or can be organized every year to benefit anything in the world. For $30-$50 you can ride a marked course at varying distances with vehicle support and food stops along the way. There's no end to the people you can meet and the sights you can see. I love them!

Six Gap Century

For me the Grandfather of Charity Rides is the Six Gap Century in Dahlonega, Georgia. I've blogged about it in the past. Six Gap 2011 This year I'm riding it with my good friend David Shabat and others. I plan to make a poor man's videography of the journey. We'll see.

Next up will be the Good News for Gainesville Ride. This ride is reletively new but is a compelling ride because of it's benefiting charity (Good News for Gainesville) and the fact that the sponsors are all area churches. I love the folks that organize this one. They make life worth...riding.

Then I'll ride the Hills of Habersham from Clarkesville, Georgia. This ride is up in God's country and features some traffic free riding that I enjoy regularly because I work up there. You can ride this one and then head over to Cornelia for the Big Red Apple Festival! I'll probably meet my family there.

Then I'll be directing the Lt. Governor's Century Ride from Chestnut Mountain, Georgia. This thing is going to be huge thanks to the powerful political clout that the Lt. Governor's office provides. There will even be a festival hosted by the United Healthcare Cycling Team where kid's can ride and get instruction on safety. There will be giveaways and a silent auction. The ride is challenging and takes you through old towns in North Georgia. The riders get Chic-Fil-A for lunch after the ride!

Goofy-ness happens when you haven't slept for 36 hours.

The next weekend could be as epic as you like. There's the 24 Hours of Georgia mountain bike race in Watkinsville, Georgia or the George Hincapie Gran Fondo in Greenville, SC. I haven't been asked to be on a team at the 24 Hr race so the fondo is in the cards. They've announced that TJ Van Garderen, Christian Vande Velde, Cadel Evans, Ted King, Brend Bookwalter, and others will be there. We'll see what it looks like as I get closer to the event. It's a lot of money for the fondo ($170).

Then we'll have the Tour de Tugaloo! This one has been going on for years. It takes place way up in Toccoa, Georgia and crosses into South Carolina. I've done it twice and plan to ride it this year with my family. It can be really cold in November so if you don't have some good cold weather clothing you'd better get you some. I love these folk too! They really take care of the riders and always have hundreds of cyclists each year.

The people who organize each of these events take good care of the riders. You roadies are the customer after all. So I wouldn't be afraid to try any of them.

In my lunch time surfing I read the article below. It's really funny and helps make a great point about the perception of cyclists by ... non cyclists. I've noticed that in city areas like Gainesville and Buford some of us are not being very smart about where we ride. If you live downtown you should take time to find a route out into the country that doesn't impede the flow of traffic on busy main roads. A better idea would be to throw the bike in the car and drive 10 mins to a church parking lot or something and start from there. Riding a route on busy roads inside a large city doesn't make sense for lots of reasons. If you want to keep on cycling then you need to consider something more than "it's my right" when you leave the house. You make enough drivers mad and they'll vote to take away your right to ride...or worse.
Anyway, check out this article.

You’re a cyclist so you’re bad! - BikeRadar Magazines

And now I'll leave you with something funny and maybe I'll see some of you at Six Gap this weekend.

Lil' Joe Elam

Thanks for reading!

Chad Hayes

Iron Kids

This week I feel like bragging. I have two daughters. Molly is almost 13 and Ellie is 10. They rule my world. I’ve done my best not to spoil them no matter how much they deserve it. I’m not too terribly worried because any ground I lose is more than made up for by our parents. It’s the stereotypical problem that all Grandparents create for us. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Turtles are cool.

I taught both of them how to ride a bike as soon as I could. We’ve spent many hours riding together at the house or on the trails close by. Molly got into gymnastics and advanced to the point that she was practicing 16 hours per week. She developed some ridiculous strength for a 70 pound little girl.

Ellie is my little ninja. She started Karate a few years ago at the Dojo American Karate Center. I love those guys. They not only teach the kids to be strong and confident, they teach the strong willed to be disciplined. Karate has helped Ellie develop good physical strength and mental toughness.

Put it all together and you get some really strong child athletes. I’m using the words child athlete because they’ve recently been asked to join a new Kid’s Triathlon team for United Healthcare. As a parent I can’t help being excited. But my wife and I don’t want to be like some of those overzealous ones... living vicariously through their children. So…we’ve been training their butts off in the pool, on the treadmill, and on their bikes.

Molly training. Don't worry, I flipped the stem later on.

We had a “tune up” Kid’s Triathlon at Sterling on the Lake last week to let them see what they’d be doing when they race for United at the Iron Kid’s Triathlon. It would be the first time they would do all three things in succession. I was way more nervous than they were. 

We've had a few practices with our team mates and received a ton of help from some real Triathlon guys. Here's an article about that. United Healthcare even made a video and sent out the media to cover our practices. I was having a hard time not being too excited. Don't want this whole thing going to my head. Before I know it I'll be shipping the kids off to Switzerland for VO2 max workouts at high climate.
No, we're just having fun with whatever comes our way. Daddy is the only one taking his hobby too seriously.

Sterling on the Lake Triathlon, Post Race

So after weeks of running on treadmills and riding bikes and swimming for speed, not for fun, we headed to Alpharetta, Georgia for the Iron Kids Triathlon p/b United Healthcare. The race would feature some of the best kid triathlon racers in the country. I'm not kidding. This would be the series finale with over 1,400 kids. The largest field was the 9-11 year olds, Ellie's field. The race started on Sunday at 7:00AM so we got a hotel room and went down on Saturday to see the course and get our packets.

There were a ton of people there already. I saw tags from Utah and Colorado?! The types of people varied from the "highly focused" to the "deer in the headlights". Some of the parents looked like they were commanding the northern fleet. Others didn't have a clue about what exactly a Triathlon was. A disparity made all the more obvious by the types of bikes we saw in transition. Some of these kids would be riding a carbon fiber frame over a set of Zipp wheels. Others would be forced to pedal a rusty 50 pound Wal-Mart bike to hell and back.

Walking the course with hundreds of others.

As I walked around watching the desperation a thought occurred to me. I had initially intended on helping some of the folks who seemed especially needy by giving them advice or working on their bikes or whatever came up. But there were so many. We're talking hundreds. Everywhere I looked there were issues that I could offer some form of advice on. So many people scratching their heads. So many decisions being made that would ultimately become their child's new miserable experience. It was like knowing the answers and wanting to help but there were way to many of them.
I finally had to just focus on my own kids and help anyone who asked for it. And it dawned on me that God is so amazing. He sees the same thing but on a grander scale and yet he doesn't just focus on the few who love him. He cares about every person on planet earth at the same time. So when I think about my decision at the triathlon compared to His decision about all of us it helps me understand a little bit more about what makes the God I serve great.

Ellie Hayes, 10 Yrs

 We set up the girls bikes in the transition area and set about walking the course. We showed them the pool and then watched the Race Director demonstrate how the racers needed to enter and exit the transition area.
We hung out at the finish line where there was a festival of sorts going on with tents from people I've never seen. The first was one from Team "Racing for God". They had several kids in really cool custom Tri suits and seemed like a bunch of really nice people.
Then there was Team Winter. This 13 year old had won the entire series two years running. They made her the Iron Kids Ambassador this year and she spoke to us during orientation. She has a great story.

Then there was a cool tent where we made posters to hold up during the race. Of course I wasn't too keen on having to carry them all over the park along with my back pack and water bottles and camera but we all have to make sacrifices when the children we love are happily creating a work of art that they believe will motivate them during the race.

The Whitwell's

Riley Whitwell creates a squid.

  One of the best things about this Triathlon team was getting to meet other parents who share our commitment of fitness. We especially enjoyed making friends with the Whitwell's. Their daughter's Riley and Rachel were in the same races with our girls. They trained together and became good friends. We all did. In fact we ate us some Macaroni Grill together before heading to the hotel. It made for some epic sillyness.

The girls were having a great time. We were too. It was hard for us to all calm down and get some sleep but Lisa and I knew that 5 o'clock would come much to soon so we began the wind down procedure very early. When the morning came the girls didn't believe us. "It's still dark?"

Here's an example of what my own racing experience has brought to the table for this one. My plan for the morning included many things. As many of you know it is always my intention to eliminate anything that might go wrong, that is if it's within my control. So here's a short list; Fueling properly, bike is ready mechanically, clothing options, mentally prepared, course pre-ridden, and in the hour or so after getting up it is always helpful to make a natural deposit at least once before race time (twice is a bonus). After asking several times for a deposit to be made... the girls embarrassingly consented to try. And what do you suppose was missing from the port-a-johns we waited in line to use? That's right... toilet paper. Thankfully my girls are used to "making do" (no pun intended) under the various circumstances we've placed them in over the years and had no problem with napkins. Others however sought relief elsewhere.

Ellie and I watched as Molly's field started in the pool. They stagger them but ultimately they end up swimming into each other. Once out of the pool, Molly took off down through the parking lot and made a great transition to the bike. She rode Lisa's bike which I modified slightly to fit her. I debated for a long time whether or not to put the pedal cages on. It turned out to be a good idea. Once she got in them it made the long hill on each lap a lot easier. After 8 miles of that she jogged it back into place and began her run. I cheered and yelled and held up the poster. She was very focused and looked good. That was the last I saw of her. Ellie and I had to get ready for her race.

Ellie stretching.

Ellie was nervous but very focused. I tried not to overwhelm her with advice. I only answered any questions she had. Otherwise we stood together and she stretched while we waited.

Before Ellie's race could begin, Molly had finished. So they made it back over to the pool to cheer for Ellie. The line of kids in Ellie's field wrapped around the 50 meter pool 3 times. It was quite a sight. Ellie's only request was that after she started her swim I would go to the isle where her bike was in transition and point the way when she came running from the swim. So that's what I did. My 10 year old came flying through the parking lot in her bare feet, jumped in her shoes, slapped on her helmet and ran her bike out onto course. Eyes blazing...very focused. I was so proud.

Waiting to start.

 

As you might expect both my girls are killers on the bike. Ellie knocked it out and ran out of transition before I could get there from the bike course. We all went to the finish line to see her complete the Iron Kids Triathlon.

Hayes Iron Kids.

United Healthcare provided a great photographer, Russell Kaye/Instagramography, who made some of the best shots in the world. Lisa and I are very grateful to him because we didn't have the time or ability to get the memorable shots all parents want to have. Here's some more good ones.

As you can tell we had a great time. We celebrated with the team and said our goodbye's. We're hoping to see a lot of these folks again real soon.

Oh and Molly placed 23rd, Ellie 26th in their age groups. Overall the United Healthcare team made a great impact on the race. Especially considering it was thrown together only a few months earlier. Maybe next year we can bring the pain. :)

Thank you for reading!

Have a great week!

Chad Hayes